Voterama in Congress on major issues in the week ending Jan. 18

Published: Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, January 18, 2013 at 2:51 p.m.

Voterama in Congress

WASHINGTON — Here’s how North Carolina House members voted on major issues in the week ending Jan. 18. The Senate was not in session.

HURRICANE SANDY AID: Voting 241 for and 180 against, the House on Jan. 15 sent the Senate a bill (HR 152) to appropriate $50.5 billion in disaster aid in response to Hurricane Sandy’s devastating impact on areas of New Jersey, Connecticut and New York in late October. The appropriation is defined as emergency aid and thus would be deficit spending. About one-third of the aid would provide immediate relief to individuals, businesses, governmental units and other victims of Sandy, with the remainder to be spent on measures to curb damages from future storms. The preventive aid would be spent primarily in the region struck by Sandy but in other parts of the U.S. as well.

The bill’s largest outlays are $16.3 billion for transit and other transportation projects; $16 billion for Community Development Block Grants and Department of Housing and Urban Development payments to help storm victims rebuild; $5.4 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency aid; $4.76 billion for Army Corps of Engineers projects and $2 billion for Federal Highway Administration projects.

DISASTER-AID OFFSET: Voting 162 for and 258 against, the House on Jan. 15 refused to offset at least $17 billion in HR 152 (above) with a 1.63 percent across-the-board cut in discretionary spending for military, foreign-affairs and domestic programs in the remainder of fiscal 2013. At the time of the vote, the bill was limited to $17 billion in urgent aid for areas of New Jersey, Connecticut and New York. About $33.5 billion was added later for long-range programs to mitigate damages from future storms in the Northeast and elsewhere, giving the bill its $50.5 billion total cost.

Amendment sponsor Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., said Congress must determine “whether or not we have the money to do this and whether or not it’s important enough to us to pay for it.”

Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said: “On many occasions, Democrats and Republicans came together to meet these urgent needs caused by major disasters in all parts of the nation. We didn’t say we must first cut support for armed forces and veterans and reduce investments in research. Let’s not do that now.”

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: Voting 206 for and 214 against, the House on Jan. 15 refused to strip the Hurricane Sandy relief bill (HR 152, above) of $13 million for speeding completion of a National Weather Service project that will use satellite and radar data to improve the accuracy of storm warnings and weather forecasts. Known as the Ground Readiness Project, it would triple the volume of data instantly available to meteorologists. Critics said emergency appropriations should not be used to fund this program.

LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION: Voting 202 for and 217 against, the House on Jan. 15 refused to strip HR 152 (above) of $1 million that would boost Legal Services Corporation resources for helping low-income persons deal with legal problems arising from Hurricane Sandy. A federally funded non-profit corporation, the LSC provides free legal aid to persons in households with annual incomes up to 125% of the federal poverty line. In 2012, the maximum incomes for receiving LSC aid were $13,963 for an individual and $28,813 for a family of four.

<p>Voterama in Congress</p><p>WASHINGTON — Here's how North Carolina House members voted on major issues in the week ending Jan. 18. The Senate was not in session.</p><p>HURRICANE SANDY AID: Voting 241 for and 180 against, the House on Jan. 15 sent the Senate a bill (HR 152) to appropriate $50.5 billion in disaster aid in response to Hurricane Sandy's devastating impact on areas of New Jersey, Connecticut and New York in late October. The appropriation is defined as emergency aid and thus would be deficit spending. About one-third of the aid would provide immediate relief to individuals, businesses, governmental units and other victims of Sandy, with the remainder to be spent on measures to curb damages from future storms. The preventive aid would be spent primarily in the region struck by Sandy but in other parts of the U.S. as well.</p><p>The bill's largest outlays are $16.3 billion for transit and other transportation projects; $16 billion for Community Development Block Grants and Department of Housing and Urban Development payments to help storm victims rebuild; $5.4 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency aid; $4.76 billion for Army Corps of Engineers projects and $2 billion for Federal Highway Administration projects.</p><p>A yes vote was to pass the bill.</p><p>Voting yes: Democrats G.K. Butterfield, David Price, Mike McIntyre and Melvin Watt</p><p>Voting no: Republicans Renee Ellmers, Walter Jones, Virginia Foxx, Howard Coble, Richard Hudson, Robert Pittenger, Patrick McHenry, Mark Meadows and George Holding</p><p>DISASTER-AID OFFSET: Voting 162 for and 258 against, the House on Jan. 15 refused to offset at least $17 billion in HR 152 (above) with a 1.63 percent across-the-board cut in discretionary spending for military, foreign-affairs and domestic programs in the remainder of fiscal 2013. At the time of the vote, the bill was limited to $17 billion in urgent aid for areas of New Jersey, Connecticut and New York. About $33.5 billion was added later for long-range programs to mitigate damages from future storms in the Northeast and elsewhere, giving the bill its $50.5 billion total cost.</p><p>Amendment sponsor Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., said Congress must determine “whether or not we have the money to do this and whether or not it's important enough to us to pay for it.”</p><p>Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said: “On many occasions, Democrats and Republicans came together to meet these urgent needs caused by major disasters in all parts of the nation. We didn't say we must first cut support for armed forces and veterans and reduce investments in research. Let's not do that now.”</p><p>A yes vote backed an across-the-board cut to help pay for Sandy aid.</p><p>Voting yes: Ellmers, Jones, Foxx, Coble, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding </p><p>Voting no: Butterfield, Price, McIntyre, Watt</p><p>NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: Voting 206 for and 214 against, the House on Jan. 15 refused to strip the Hurricane Sandy relief bill (HR 152, above) of $13 million for speeding completion of a National Weather Service project that will use satellite and radar data to improve the accuracy of storm warnings and weather forecasts. Known as the Ground Readiness Project, it would triple the volume of data instantly available to meteorologists. Critics said emergency appropriations should not be used to fund this program.</p><p>A yes vote backed the spending cut.</p><p>Voting yes: Ellmers, Jones, Foxx, Coble, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding </p><p>Voting no: Butterfield, Price, McIntyre, Watt </p><p>LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION: Voting 202 for and 217 against, the House on Jan. 15 refused to strip HR 152 (above) of $1 million that would boost Legal Services Corporation resources for helping low-income persons deal with legal problems arising from Hurricane Sandy. A federally funded non-profit corporation, the LSC provides free legal aid to persons in households with annual incomes up to 125% of the federal poverty line. In 2012, the maximum incomes for receiving LSC aid were $13,963 for an individual and $28,813 for a family of four.</p><p>A yes vote backed the spending cut.</p><p>Voting yes: Ellmers, Jones, Foxx, Coble, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding </p><p>Voting no: Butterfield, Price, McIntyre, Watt </p><p>A look ahead</p><p>The Senate will vote on reforming filibuster rules in the week of Jan. 21. The House schedule was to be announced.</p>